A review by oskhen
No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai
2.0
This book was recommended to me from somewhere or other because I loved Sylvia Plath's [b: The Bell Jar|6514|The Bell Jar|Sylvia Plath|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1554582218l/6514._SY75_.jpg|1385044]. Unfortunately Plath remains in a league of her own. Dazai's rendering of human life is almost too bleak to deal with, adjectives like melancholy and depression just doesn't cut it.
To continue the comparison, Plath manages to cut so deep because of the depth of emotion. She shows us true despair, intense and bottomless. For all the sadness, it only makes the beauty shine through all that much more. It embodies the notion that The highs feel that much higher, when the lows are the lowest .
This book hits rather like a brick wall. Deep melancholy, as far from cathartic as possible. Catatonic if anything, No Longer Human shows us emptiness. Hope is nowhere to be found, and Yozo barely resembles a shell. He did not dare to live, to even exist as himself in solace. I found myself wanting to scream, but all emotion and color was soon muted by his internal monologue. Now I'm yearning for excitement - for action, intensity and passion. All of the things Yozo never experienced.
I might go and blow up a pipeline next.
To continue the comparison, Plath manages to cut so deep because of the depth of emotion. She shows us true despair, intense and bottomless. For all the sadness, it only makes the beauty shine through all that much more. It embodies the notion that The highs feel that much higher, when the lows are the lowest .
This book hits rather like a brick wall. Deep melancholy, as far from cathartic as possible. Catatonic if anything, No Longer Human shows us emptiness. Hope is nowhere to be found, and Yozo barely resembles a shell. He did not dare to live, to even exist as himself in solace. I found myself wanting to scream, but all emotion and color was soon muted by his internal monologue. Now I'm yearning for excitement - for action, intensity and passion. All of the things Yozo never experienced.
I might go and blow up a pipeline next.